As a
result of the pogrom of Ndigbo which started in May, 1966, Gilbert was forced
to flee from Benue State with his family which included young Nwaka Maria back
to Ajuona Orba to escape death. As the war raged on, Maria joined the choir in
her local church. This choir was so effective that even pagans started going to
church just to listen to the beautiful and hope - inspiring renditions of the
choir. There too, Maria was so talented that she was named "queen of the
young choristers" by their choirmaster. At the end of the civil war which
followed the Igbo massacre, Nwakaego completed her primary education at Central School, Ajuona Orba and gained
admission into Queen of the Rosary Secondary School in Nsukka, to the delight
of her father, Papa Nwaka. Madu's decision to send her daughter to a secondary
school was met with heavy criticism from family and friends. It's worthy to
mention that people back then were mostly illiterate and ignorant. People had
little value for education, especially the education of a girl child. They
believed it would render a girl "useless/wayward", not to mention
that it was waste of time and resources since such training would only be
wasted in the kitchen in husband's house. Papa Nwaka had a different belief.
One
fine morning, he got on his brand new Raleigh bicycle ( those were not common
those days, it was like owning a Benz today)and cycled off to Queen of the
Rosary Secondary School. At the gate he stopped and stood there watching the
students (who were all girls) coming and going. A gateman approached him to
know if he needed help.
Gateman:
"good morning sir"
Papa
Nwaka: "good morning my son."
Gateman:
"do you need something in the school?"
Papa
Nwaka: "tell me, are these girls all students here?"
Gateman:
"yes sir."
Papa
Nwaka: "and they are all people's children?"
Gateman
(smiling)"yes of course."
Papa
Nwaka: " thank you very much." He said to himself as he mounted his
bicycle and rode away, "if all those girls turn out useless because of
education, let my own daughter turn out useless too."
He went
home and told Nwaka to start preparing to move to the school.
This
was to be a decisive and visionary piece of good judgement as Nwaka turned out
to be a trail blazer for other young people in her family and the whole
community. As a result of Papa Nwaka's example, the negative attitude towards
education in the community reduced drastically as parents became more open to
sending their children to school. Maria Nwakaego made her father proud when she
graduated from secondary and went on to gain admission into the Teachers'
Training College, Nsukka where she was trained to be a teacher. She graduated
and got a teaching job with the defunct Anambra state Government (Enugwu and
Ebonyi states had not been created then). In later years, Maria also was a
major contributor to the education of all her younger siblings.
In
1978, she met and married her late husband, Mr. Joseph Ugwoke. The marriage was
blessed with five boys and a girl. Two of the boys however, were lost to sickle
cell disease. Her marriage to late Joseph was one of great understanding and
unity of purpose. It was a union of soulmates. Their relationship was a perfect
example of the biblical "and the two shall become one" of Mark10:8.
In
1984, her love for education took Maria to the University of Jos in Plateau
State where she obtained further certification in Education.
In 1992
however, two months after the birth of her last baby and only daughter, tragedy
struck. Joseph died after a brief illness. It was a major blow to Maria. The
grief was almost unbearable but she had to remain strong for her 4 young
children. From her meagre earning as a primary school teacher, Maria was able
to turn those four little children that were left to her to professionals - one
Geologist, one Surveyor, an Engineer and a fully qualified NHS Nurse. Quite an
achievement, by any standard.
Now,
tragedy has struck yet again. Just six months after her trip to the United
Kingdom to see her new granddaughter, Maria has been taken from us. When we
pray for long life, it's pertinent to ask; how long is long enough? Jesus
Christ died at 33 but he made more impact than Melchizedek who lived thousands
of years. Yes, we would have loved to have Maria with us much longer than this
but we comfort ourselves with the knowledge that she fought a good fight, won
the race and is now resting in the bosom of the Lord. She died as a retired
headmistress. At different times in her life, Maria was an influencial member
of the church council, the Catholic Women Organisation and the community where
she lived.The baton has been passed to as many as knew her.
She was
survived by four children, eight grand children, a brother and four sisters.
Goodbye!
Great woman, till we meet to part no more.
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